Exclusive Networks will use new vendor ally NetApp to spearhead a major push into the data management and cyber resilience space, UK&I MD Rob Tomlin has revealed.
NetApp today announced it has added Exclusive as a third UK&I distributor, alongside incumbents TD Synnex and Arrow.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Tomlin said Exclusive had been looking to sign a “tier-one” data management vendor for several months.
“With the growth of AI, if customers haven’t got their data in order, it’s very hard to implement a really strong cybersecurity solution – and we are the biggest pure-play cyber distributor,” he explained.
“So about four or five months ago, we decided to sign a tier-one, major data management vendor.”
Exclusive will put NetApp at the centre of an ecosystem of non-competitive data management and cyber resilience vendors, with further signings imminent, Tomlin indicated. Rubrik and Thales are among its existing vendors that play in this space.
“There are many vendors out there that you and I haven’t even heard of who are going to be big AI vendors, AI data vendors, AI security vendors, that will be acquired, or will become unicorns,” he said.
“We want to be in that fast-growth area,” he said.
“We’re all in with NetApp”
Signing a vendor traditionally associated more with storage than cybersecurity does not represent any change in strategy for Paris-headquartered Exclusive, Tomlin maintained.
“It’s an adjacency, and we’re all in with them – we don’t have a competitive technology,” Tomlin said.
“What we really like about it is the ability for us to provide that end-to-end, cradle-to-grave service wrap. It just feels very similar to everything else we do.”
Tomlin characterised NYSE-listed NetApp, which saw Q1 revenues rise 8% year on year to $1.54bn, as “the most secure storage vendor”.
“That’s the reason we chose them, and we would not have chosen a spinning disc, storage-only company. NetApp position themselves as, and absolutely are, a data management and cyber resilience company. They didn’t used to be, but they are today,” he explained.
“The end-user customers, and VARs that will be taking that stack of data security solutions to market, are the same end users and VARs we sell to today, and that we support 24/7 with our support services. But they’re typically not buying NetApp. They’re buying another vendor, and in our opinion they would be better served with NetApp.”
Tomlin’s tips
Data management and cyber resilience is one of four push areas for Exclusive’s UK&I business heading into 2025, according to Tomlin – who joined the distributor from Dell in March.
It is also focusing on retaining and developing its staff culture, as well as growing its footprint with SMB-focused VARs and MSSPs.
“We want to extend the experience we offer into more MSSPs,” Tomlin said of the latter priority.
“That area of the market is very fast growth – customers really want cybersecurity solutions delivered as an outcome. Our vendors really need us to do more there, so we want to do that better,” he added.
In its Q3 results statement last night, Exclusive CEO Jesper Trolle said he saw the year “ending on a positive note”, despite noting that deals have slipped due to “lengthening decision-making processes”.
The Euronext Paris-listed VAD saw Q3 gross sales vault 9% year on year to €1.33bn, although growth in EMEA – which generates nearly three-quarters of sales – slowed to 2%.
Despite acknowledging that the arrival of last week’s budget has “definitely delayed some opportunities getting closed out”, Tomlin shared his CEO’s cheery outlook for the months ahead.
“We are we are optimistic about the end of the year and what 2025 will bring,” he concluded.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
